Search form

Search form

First Financial plans to acquire nine Bank of America locations in Illinois: seven branches and two drive-ups. The deal includes $252 million in deposits and $2.3 million in loans to small businesses. It does not include trust accounts, credit cards, mortgages or BofA's investment brokerage.

Related Summaries

Bank of America President and CEO Brian T. Moynihan points to slow but steady growth in consumer spending as an indicator that the economy is working its way forward. "I think people wish this were going faster, but it's just a lot of work to take a huge economy like ours and get it completely back to where people want it, 3% plus growth," Moynihan said.

Wall Street is questioning how long it will take Citigroup and Bank of America to free themselves from the shadow of the global financial crisis after the banks reported fourth-quarter earnings below expectations. Citigroup's profit rose 25% and Bank of America reported a 63% drop, but both results were undercut by mortgage settlements and other legal costs.

Bank of America will repurchase $330 million in 2010 and 2011 loans from Freddie Mac. Neither party is sharing details about the agreement, and analysts worry that the bank's move signals changes in policy that could further harm mortgage-backed securities investors.

A recent $400 million sale of commercial-mortgage bonds by Developers Diversified Realty helped reopen the securitization market. Bank of America is planning a $460 million deal of commercial-mortgage bonds, but unlike the DDR deal, BofA's is not eligible for the Federal Reserve's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. Insiders said the deal marks another positive sign for the commercial-mortgage market.

Some Merrill Lynch executives said JPMorgan Chase drove the firm into a shotgun wedding with Bank of America by demanding billions of dollars in collateral in early September. About that time, Merrill's stock plummeted, and market observers started wondering whether the firm could weather the storm. Two days after JPMorgan followed up its informal request for more collateral with a formal demand, Bank of America purchased Merrill.